If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

What should one do to keep the "begginner's mind"?

What should one do to keep the "begginner's mind", that freshness in himself alive?

Gassho,

Marcos

Gassho,
Marcos (former username: mpdalles)

***SAttODAY***

"Does anyone else have a question? If so, let him ask now! But
the instant you open your mouth you’re already way off. Why is this? Don’t
you know that Venerable Śākyamuni said, ‘Dharma is separate from words,
because it is neither subject to causation nor dependent upon conditions’?"

Don't try to keep "beginner's mind" or anything else...you can only let go of those things which keep you from a beginner's mind. And only you know what those things are. Don't try to be fresh. Don't try to be anything. Just be.

That may "stink of zen", but that's really the Way as I understand it. Then again, I don't claim to know much about the Way and it is thus only a suggestion.

But then again I'm a beginner too...and is just my priest in training $0.02 which doesn't even get you penny candy anymore.

Gassho,
Dosho

Ordained Priest -In-TrainingPlease take what I say with a grain of salt,
especially in matters of the Dharma!

Don't try to keep "beginner's mind" or anything else...you can only let go of those things which keep you from a beginner's mind. And only you know what those things are. Don't try to be fresh. Don't try to be anything. Just be.

That may "stink of zen", but that's really the Way as I understand it. Then again, I don't claim to know much about the Way and it is thus only a suggestion.

But then again I'm a beginner too...and is just my priest in training $0.02 which doesn't even get you penny candy anymore.

Gassho,
Dosho

Dosho's right to my mind, but maybe some stuff that's a bit more practical: study the dharma without expectation; sit zazen without expectation; be part of a sangha without expectation. All these things maybe help cultivate a space for the already there beginningless beginner's mind. If that doesn't work, sit with ender's mind, with unfresh mind, with stinky old mind.

Look at everything with the eyes of a child, a spirit of wonder and a heart of playfulness!

Gassho
Yugen

-----------------------------------------------------------
Please take all my comments with a grain of salt - I am a novice priest and anything I say is to be taken with a good dose of skepticism - Shodo Yugen

I read somewhere that Suzuki Roshi used to suggest once in a while to sit and "Forget there is next moment. There is only this moment. "

If there is no next moment, there is no future, then there is no idea of becoming better, no idea of being anywhere other than here, no expectations that sitting is going to change you or make you a better person, no becoming expert, always a beginner.

Empty your bowl brother. Like all great comments above, it all comes down to the same thing. If you study the answers given here carefully, you will see every unique member here has his or her own unique way of saying the very same thing. There is no one single answer that gets you a black belt or something. It's not adding onto or thinking of improving something! It's about losing and dropping time and time again, until even dropping is dropped.

Ask yourself "What is this beginners mind exactly and why do I want it so bad?" Is it a mark of progress? I think you already have filled your bowl with some unnecessary self judgement. If you sit wiggling on your zafu thinking: "This is not so good sitting and I must improve my sitting or I will never get it right!" you are off the mark m8. Get what!? You are you and when you sit shikantaza, Marcos already is perfect and you sit perfectly in a perfect and complete world, IF you do it without getting distracted by questions like this. There is this video of Nishijima Roshi saying that after sitting for 70 years, it feels just the same as the first time he ever sat Zazen. So, just sit! Not like it is something difficult, very special and mysterious that will get you somewhere. Sit like it is life. Just like you would do the dishes or tie your shoes. Nothing special or extraordinary to strive or quest for buddy. It is all already right there.

All the wonderful comments are inspiring. What is a beginners mind? Well, a beginner doesn't really know much or nothing at all but has an openness and alertness. They are paying attention and listening. I don't think you can keep this but the practice of this is what you can do.

How could we retrieve that sensation we felt the very first time we did anything.

Eating, loving, laughing, working... even in those most silly situations... how could we maintain that spirit of contentment?

It reminded me of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi famous' book title and then there came my question.

Deep bow and Gassho.

Marcos

Gassho,
Marcos (former username: mpdalles)

***SAttODAY***

"Does anyone else have a question? If so, let him ask now! But
the instant you open your mouth you’re already way off. Why is this? Don’t
you know that Venerable Śākyamuni said, ‘Dharma is separate from words,
because it is neither subject to causation nor dependent upon conditions’?"